New Yorkers Brave Long Lines For Day 4 Of Early Voting

NEW YORK CITY — New York City’s fourth day of early voting saw the return of long lines, a stranded mayor and more than 143,000 ballots cast.

Tuesday’s early voting tally surpassed the final counts from previous days — in fact, the day-by-day haul has only ticked up, according to city Board of Elections numbers.

But many of the 457,735 total votes cast so far came after long, near-interminable waits at several polling locations.

“I waited in line for 5 hours & 40 minutes to vote today,” one voter, who cast their ballot at Robert Wagner Middle School in Manhattan, tweeted.

“Today I got on line to vote at 1:50pm,” another voter tweeted. “I cast my ballot at 7:35pm. Thank you to the poll workers who made it safe and organized inside and out. No thank you to the NYC board of elections that thought 1 early voting location was enough for the entire UES.”

Those early voters weren’t alone — Mayor Bill de Blasio stood in line for three hours to cast his ballot at the Park Slope Armory YMCA.

De Blasio and other officials have lobbed criticism at the New York City Board of Elections for mismanaging early voting and called for more voting machines at the 88 early voting locations.

Board of Elections officials apparently assigned voters to polling locations without regard to capacity, a Gothamist story revealed.

But it appears the long lines and frustrations haven’t tamped down enthusiasm for voting, especially in Brooklyn where nearly 10,000 more voters cast ballots on Tuesday than the day before.

BOE officials on Tuesday voted to extend early voting hours. The updated hours for the remaining days are:

• Wednesday, Oct. 28 — 12 p.m. to 8 p.m.
• Thursday, Oct. 29 — 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
• Friday, Oct. 30 — 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• Saturday, Oct. 31 — 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.
• Sunday, Nov. 1 — 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Click here for more information about early voting.